


For You

by wheresmywatson



Series: Adventures in French [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: But I'm glad he does, Fluff, French, I don't know why John puts up with Sherlock, M/M, Sherlock speaking French, but the rest is in English
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 14:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheresmywatson/pseuds/wheresmywatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock decides he can only speak French and John gets pissed until he makes a discovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For You

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to beeleebay for checking my French grammar after I initially wrote the story using Google Translate.
> 
> (Translations are at the end.)

The morning sunlight was obscured by clouds when John got up and made his way downstairs. It was the weekend, finally, and he was looking forward to making himself a nice cup of tea before settling down to read the paper. He was well overdue for a lazy day, he thought to himself, reaching the kitchen and turning the kettle on.

As he waited, he looked over and noticed that Sherlock was already up, though lying on the sofa and questionably awake. His eyes were closed, his arms folded neatly on his chest, and his feet were tucked in at the end of the sofa as if to keep his toes warm.

"Sherlock?" John called curiously, wondering if the other man had slept during the night or whether he'd been up working on an experiment or a case resulting in his collapse on the sofa. "Are you awake?"

"Oui, bien sûr."

John was about to turn back to the kettle, content now that Sherlock had answered him that the man was awake and was fine, when he realised he hadn't actually understood all of that.

Frowning and looking over at Sherlock again - searching for the hint of a smile or something else to suggest Sherlock was playing with him - John stared at Sherlock's unmoving form and wondered whether he'd imagined it. He was still rather tired himself, but he didn't think he could ever be capable of imagining Sherlock's deep voice speaking another language so naturally.

"Was that French?" John asked curiously. "I think I understood 'yes'."

"Oui," Sherlock repeated before freeing his feet from the sofa end and sitting up. He looked over at John, his face blank. "Puis-je avoir un peu de thé?"

John's eyebrows raised as he stared at Sherlock, ignoring the kettle which had just boiled. Sherlock was speaking French and it sounded ridiculously good, but John couldn't understand a word other than 'Oui' which was 'Yes'. "Are you asking me a question?" John asked with a shrug. "I don't speak French."

Sherlock looked rather put out then, rubbing a hand over his tired face before saying, "Thé, John. Tu peux certainement le deviner à partir des sons."

Rubbing his head in an attempt to stop the headache which was just starting to form, John decided to ignore his flatmate until he started making more sense. So he turned back to the kettle, beginning to prepare his own cup of tea before suddenly spinning around, mug in hand, to confront Sherlock. "Tea?" he asked. "You want a cup of tea?"

Sherlock _was_ smirking now, and nodded his head to answer John. "Avec deux sucres."

"Right," John said monotonously, clearly not understanding anything else. "No idea what you just said, but I'm going to assume it wasn't important. One tea coming up." He returned to the kitchen, grabbing a second mug and going about preparing their tea the way they each preferred it.

Once he was finished, he brought Sherlock's mug out to the man, who was bent over a recent newspaper. As John approached, he lifted a hand for the mug and said a quiet, "Merci."

"What's gotten into you today?" John asked, taking his own tea with him to sit in his chair. "Why are you speaking French?"

"Parce que je m'ennuie," Sherlock replied, not looking up.

"Well, that's eye-opening," John retorted sarcastically. He reached for his laptop and balanced it on his lap, deciding to have a look through his emails and blog in case anyone was asking questions or had a case. Maybe Sherlock just needed something to do - after all, it wasn't every day that he read the paper.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each absorbed in his own task, until suddenly Sherlock was folding the newspaper and looking up at John. "Es-tu libre ce soir?" he asked, tossing the newspaper onto the coffee table and leaning back.

John had glanced up at him over his tea and raised one eyebrow before looking back down at his laptop. "Yeah, whatever."

With a mischievous smile, Sherlock clasped his hands beneath his chin, pulling his feet up onto the sofa so that he could rest his elbows on his knees. "Excellent! J’ai pensé que tu le serais peut-être. Nous avons une affaire."

"This," John muttered, still mainly focused on his laptop. "Has got to be the most fascinating conversation I've ever had."

Rolling his eyes, Sherlock said, "Oh, ne sois pas ridicule."

"No, _no_." John put his mug down so that he could turn in his seat and point a finger at Sherlock. "Listen to me, don't take that tone with me and especially not when you're speaking another language. I don't know what you're going on about, but it's annoying and I'd like you to stop. Speak to me in English if you want me to reply." Satisfied with what he had said, John settled back in his seat again and began typing a reply to an email from Mike.

Sherlock stared over at John curiously, eyes narrowed. Shifting his body, he slid to a lying-down position in a fluid motion and now stared up at the ceiling instead, letting out a quiet sigh. "Tu ne vas pas répondre?" John's fingers kept hitting the keys. "Tu es très beau." John still stubbornly ignored him. "Je me demande si tu reconnais l’un de ces mots: Je t’aime."

Trying to keep ignoring Sherlock, John sighed loudly. "I wonder if Sarah's free today. I might give her a call in a bit."

Sherlock sat up at once. "Ne l’appelle pas, s’il te plait. J’ai menti à propos de l’existence d’une affaire car je voulais une excuse pour passer du temps avec toi."

" _Sherlock_ ," John snapped, turning to face him again finally. "French, French, French! I don't understand it!"

"M'aimes-tu?" Sherlock asked softly.

"You're pissing me off," John said, shaking his head.

"Désolé," Sherlock said. "John, French is a language often associated with love."

"Oh, wow, I almost forgot you could speak English," John quipped.

"Yes, very mature-"

" _Me_?" John laughed.

Frowning across at him, Sherlock clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "John," he began again. "French is a language often associated with love and I did hope that by speaking it I may be able to help you understand something."

"I'm usually pretty good at understanding _anything_ as long as it's explained in English," John replied. He was clearly not about to let this go and Sherlock had to close his eyes for a moment to keep his cool.

"Je t'aime. I love you."

John blinked.

"M'aimes-tu?" Sherlock continued slowly, swallowing nervously. "Do you love me?"

John's mouth was open as he searched for something to say, still blinking more frequently than necessary as he tried to work out if he was dreaming or not. He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat, going to say something else but shutting his mouth and frowning before he could get anything out.

"John," Sherlock said, his voice much softer than before. "Tu es très beau. You... are very handsome."

Sitting up straight and squaring his shoulders, John stared at Sherlock closely, trying to work out if the man was being serious. Sherlock wasn't smirking, or laughing, but he _was_ a very good actor. It wouldn't be surprising to John at all if he turned around and said, 'Got you!'.

"Is this a French lesson?" John finally found himself asking. "Because I've never been too interested in learning how to speak another language and I've already forgotten how those words sound."

"I mean it, John," Sherlock said, shaking his head. "I taught myself how to speak French when I was at university. I found it easier to express my feelings that way, since the language itself is so renowned for love."

"And you love me?" John asked, still finding it all a bit hard to take in. "Why?"

"Ça m’ennuie que tu doutes autant de ton estime de soi," Sherlock said with a sigh, standing up and walking over to John. Before the other man could do anything, Sherlock had lifted his laptop and set it on his leather chair before turning back to John. "Je t'aime parce que Je t'aime. I love you because I love you."

"Sherlock," John choked out, staring in confusion as Sherlock leaned down to grip his shoulders. Their faces were so close and John found himself transfixed by Sherlock's bright blue eyes. "Je... uh.... t'aime?"

"Tu m'aimes?" Sherlock asked eagerly, his face lighting up.

With a laugh, John nodded his head, hoping he was starting to understand enough now. "Oui," he said, feeling a bit foolish. "Je t'aime."

Dipping his head down, Sherlock smiled and pressed a kiss to John's lips. Their fingers curled together, and John swore to read up on some French for future conversations. If it meant Sherlock could express himself easier, it was the least John could do.

_Pour toi.  
_

**Author's Note:**

> French Translations:
> 
>  _Oui, bien sûr._ \- Yes, of course.  
>  _Puis-je avoir un peu de thé?_ \- Can I have some tea?  
>  _Thé, John. Tu peux certainement le deviner à partir des sons._ \- Tea, John. Surely you can guess from the sounds.  
>  _Avec deux sucres._ \- With two sugars.  
>  _Merci._ \- Thank you.  
>  _Parce que je m'ennuie._ \- Because I'm bored.  
>  _Es-tu libre ce soir?_ \- Are you free tonight?  
>  _Excellent! J’ai pensé que tu le serais peut-être. Nous avons une affaire._ \- Excellent, I thought you might be. We have a case.  
>  _Oh, ne sois pas ridicule._ \- Oh, don't be ridiculous.  
>  _Tu ne vas pas répondre?_ \- You won't respond?  
>  _Tu es très beau._ \- You are very handsome.  
>  _Je me demande si tu reconnais l’un de ces mots: Je t’aime._ \- Do you recognise any of these words, I wonder? I love you.  
>  _Ne l’appelle pas, s’il te plait. J’ai menti à propos de l’existence d’une affaire car je voulais une excuse pour passer du temps avec toi._ \- Don't call her, please. I lied about there being a case because I wanted to spend more time with you.  
>  _M'aimes-tu?_ \- Do you love me?  
>  _Désolé._ \- Sorry.  
>  _Ça m’ennuie que tu doutes autant de ton estime de soi._ \- It upsets me that you doubt your self-worth so much.  
>  _Tu m'aimes?_ \- You love me?  
>  _Je t'aime parce que Je t'aime._ \- I love you because I love you.  
>  _Pour toi._ \- For you


End file.
